The present invention relates to a rotary recording apparatus for reading and writing data from and to a rotating disc by means of a magnetic head, an optical head or the like, and in particular to a magnetic disc unit which can reduce fluid oscillation induced on a rotating disc so as to carry out positioning with a high degree of accuracy.
In a magnetic disc unit, these days, it is required to increase the capacity of memory by increasing the processing speed, and accordingly, the rotational speed of a disc has been gradually increased. However, an increase in the rotational speed, increases disc oscillation due to a fluid force caused by rotation so as to raise a new problem that the degree of positioning accuracy is lowered.
Conventionally, as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. S59-72680, a shroud is provided around the outer periphery of a disc with a predetermined gap between the disc and the shroud in order to reduce bounce (which well be hereinbelow referred to as “flutter”) of the disc. In this document there is described that the distance between the inner wall of the shroud and the outer periphery of the disc is changed from 12 mm to 10 mm, and as a result, the amplitude of oscillation is decreased from about 20 ƒÊ to 10 ƒÊ. Further, if the distance is decreased to 6 mm, the amplitude of oscillation is decreased to 15 ƒÊ, and if the distance is set to be less than 3 mm, the amplitude of oscillation becomes 8 ƒÊ which is relatively small. That is, if the outer periphery of the magnetic disc and the inner wall of the shroud is set to a value below 3 mm, the oscillation can be minimized.
Further, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. H9-204767, there is discloses a gap between a shroud and a magnetic disc which set to be 0.1 mm in order to prevent liquid lubricant with which the outer surface of the magnetic disc is coated, from scattering.
It is noted that, in the above-mentioned Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. S59-72680, there is disclosed a gap between the shroud and the disc which is 2 mm at maximum.
Further, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. H9-204767, there is disclosed a gap between the shroud and the disc which is 0.1 mm at maximum.
By the way, in a magnetic disc unit, a higher data transfer velocity (data rate) is desired in order to obtain a larger storage capacity. Thus, the rotational speed of a disc has been gradually increased up to now, and it is anticipated that the rotational speed will be further increased in future. An increase in rotational speed of a disc increases flutter which is oscillation of a disc, and accordingly, would mainly contribute to increase errors in positioning of a magnetic head. Thus, it has been required to reduce the oscillation.
Thus, there has mainly been two ways for reducing flutter of a disc as follows: First, a fluid force serving as an excitation source is reduced. Precisely, the pressure distribution is made to be uniform over the surface of a disc. Second, the stiffness of a disc is increased in order to decrease oscillation of a disc. Although the thickness of a disc may be increased to increase the stiffness of the disc, an increase in the thickness thereof causes a disc unit to have a larger size, and accordingly, it is unpreferable.